EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW__________________
“Colombo allowed the Indian Tamil MPs to visit some of these detained refugees because it made good diplomacy for Sri Lanka and allowed these MPs and Karunanidhi to play to the public gallery in Tamil Nadu.”
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By Nilantha Ilangamuwa
(October 21, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) 'India’s primary interest lies in a stable, peaceful Sri Lanka free of foreign meddling. India has watched with dismay the growth of Chinese and Pakistani influence in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka should not become a theatre for big-power competition. That won’t be good for the people of Sri Lanka or for South Asia,' says Professor Brahma Chellaney of Strategic Studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi in an exclusive interview with the Sri Lanka Guardian.
Prof. Brahma Chellaney has openly shared his thoughts on the present political and military developments in Sri Lanka, India as well as Asia in general, with the Sri Lanka Guardian. Here is the full text of the interview;
Q. Welcome to Sri Lanka Guardian and thank you for accepting our interview request. We'd like you to share your thoughts with our readers on the present political and military climate in Sri Lanka.
Is the elimination of the Tamil Tigers or the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), is good or bad? How did it happen, and what were the weaknesses within the LTTE?
A. A campaign of violence and terror by any organization in a democratic society is unjustifiable. The LTTE’s elimination opens the path to political and ethnic reconciliation. Hopefully, winning the peace won’t prove more difficult than winning the civil war.
Q. Do you believe that several LTTE leaders were executed after surrendering? If so, do you believe the Sri Lankan forces are guilty of War crimes in their final battle as many organizations have charged?
A. It is known that LTTE leaders like police chief Nadesan, navy chief Soosai and Peace secretariat Pulidevan and their wives came out with white flags around May 17 after satellite phone consultations with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Chief of UN Staff Vijay Nambiar and others at the UN. Palitha Kohona also was reportedly involved in the surrender discussions. But the surrendering LTEE figures and their families were killed in cold blood.
A process of national reconciliation in Sri Lanka will be aided by a full investigation into such cases.Q. There are many incidents in the Eelam Wars--Tamil Tigers also violated laws of War, they were also charged with War crime. For example more than 600 policemen were killed by the Tigers after they surrendered in the East.
A. Human-rights abuses and possible war crimes by all parties should be independently and credibly investigated, including claims that Sri Lankan troops indiscriminately shelled civilians caught up in the fighting and that the LTTE used civilians as human shields and shot those that tried to flee.
After all, this was a war with no witnesses, with the government having barred independent journalists and observers from the war zone.
Q. There is no doubt the Indian Government has extended full support in the elimination of Tamil Tigers in the final battle that ended last May. Some security analysts claim the present (Sri Lankan) Government has failed to resolve the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. Others say India is more concerned about economic benefits than humanitarian issues in the Island nation. You were also a Member of the Policy Advisory Group headed by the External Affairs Minister of the Government of India. What are your views on the present political and security developments in both countries and especially Indian foreign policy over her southern neighbour?
A. There is no doubt that India provided critical military assistance to Sri Lanka during the war, including naval and intelligence assistance that helped turn the tide in favour of government forces.
India’s primary interest lies in a stable, peaceful Sri Lanka free of foreign meddling. India has watched with dismay the growth of Chinese and Pakistani influence in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka should not become a theatre for big-power competition. That won’t be good for the people of Sri Lanka or for South Asia.
In that light, India is keen to see the start of a process of reconciliation and healing in Sri Lanka. Only such a process can provide an answer to the long-standing cultural and political grievances of the Tamil minority.
Q. According to your article published recently, “Beijing today values as a prized jewel in its “string of pearls” strategy in this region—the thoroughfare for much of the international oil-export supply and nearly half of all global seaborne trade. An increasingly sea-minded China, instead of competing with the U.S. in the Pacific, has turned its attention to the Indian Ocean, employing its rising oil exports as justification.” What are the challenges of Bejing which Delhi is facing? Are there having good alternatives if New Delhi likes to be seeing Chinese involvement as danger?
A. Sri Lanka is just the latest case demonstrating China’s aggressive pursuit of strategic interests. Beijing was attracted to Sri Lanka by its vantage location in the centre of the Indian Ocean, now the world’s pre-eminent energy and trade seaway. Rather than compete with the U.S. in the Pacific, China is seeking to expand its presence in the Indian Ocean, using its rising energy imports as justification to vie with India for supremacy in this region. This holds important implications for India at a time when China is stepping up direct military pressure along the Himalayas.
What is troubling is that China — with its ability to provide political protection through its UN Security Council veto power — has signed tens of billions of dollars worth of energy and arms contracts in recent years with a host of problem states — from Myanmar and Iran to Zimbabwe and Venezuela.
In all the countries where China stands accused of being an enabler of repression, its military aid has been motivated by one of three considerations: to gain access to oil and mineral resources; to market its goods and services; or to find avenues to make strategic inroads. In Sri Lanka, Beijing has calculatedly sought to advance its wider strategic interests in the Indian Ocean region.
Q. You have pointed, “President Rajapaksa deftly played the China, India and Pakistan cards to maximum advantage for his war strategy.” Does that mean these three countries are strategically trapped in Rajapaksha’s pocket?
A. It is remarkable how President Rajapaksa managed to play China and India, and Pakistan and India, against each other to maximize advantage for his war strategy. And when the war ended, he thanked China, India and Pakistan in the same breath for Sri Lanka’s victory.
But now that the war is over, he may not need the support of all three. The problem, though, he that he has announced in peacetime a major defence-budget increase as well as a drive to expand the size of the military. The Sri Lankan military is already bigger in troop strength than the British and Israeli militaries. And the further expansion would make it larger than the militaries of France, Japan and Germany.
Q. What kind of role should have been imposed by India for total peace and peace for minorities?
A. I don’t think India is in a position to “impose” anything. It’s in Sri Lanka’s own interest to reverse the state-driven militarization of society, end the control of information as an instrument of state policy and promote political and ethnic reconciliation. Post-conflict peace-building will aid the interests of all Sri Lankans — Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. Recruitment to the security forces should be made more broad-based so that they truly reflect the multi-ethnic character of Sri Lankan society.
Q. India has declared war against Naxalite , even political wing of their has been listed as terrorist organization. So according to reports, the offensive will be spread over the next five years. 27 battalions of the Border Security Force and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police will be moved into Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Maharashtra even the paramilitary forces will be supported by six Mi-17 IAF choppers. Hon. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Home Minister have told recently, Naxalite is biggest threat of India’s internal security. Meanwhile many analysts count people’ power of Naxalite and justify their struggle against poverty. In one report published recently has warned the Regime, you will never eliminate the poverty by kill the poor. So let me know your view on present offensive against Nexalite and their counter insurgency in struggle with people’s power.
A. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been calling Naxalites the biggest threat to India’s internal security since 2006. Yet he has little to show in countering their menace. It is as if periodically describing them as the biggest threat was enough! India’s internal-security policy now is being revamped by the new home minister, P. Chidambaram, who has shown himself to be quite competent. So one hopes that he would adopt a sensible and workable anti-Naxalite policy.
Q. Can you compare the Tamil Tigers and the Naxalites taken in one pocket?
A. It is difficult to compare the Tamil Tigers and the Naxalites, other than in their common pursuit of violence.
Q. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi announced that the government of Tamil Nadu wants to offer citizenship to about 100,000 Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka who have been living in the State for years. Even group of TN MPs were rare visits in Sri Lanka recently. What comments do you have on this issue?
A. Many Indian Tamil politicians like Karunanidhi are playing domestic politics, unmindful of the plight of a quarter of a million Tamil refugees that are languishing in barbed-wire camps in Sri Lanka. Colombo allowed the Indian Tamil MPs to visit some of these detained refugees because it made good diplomacy for Sri Lanka and allowed these MPs and Karunanidhi to play to the public gallery in Tamil Nadu.
Q. Is "Peace" possible under President Mahinda Rajapaksha?
A. Since President Rajapaksha has led Sri Lanka to victory, he is well-placed to win the peace, too. But he has to begin the peace building before it becomes too late. If Mr. Rajapaksa wishes to earn a place in history as the modern-day incarnation of Dutugemunu, he has to emulate that ancient king’s post-victory action and make honourable peace with the Tamils before there is a recrudescence of violence.
-Sri Lanka Guardian
I do not really know why ogvernment allowd that vist. But, when a child cry continuously for something, parents have to satisfy them one way or the other. If you have two brain cells, and one working, you should get he message
It is a pity that the Professor was not asked to comment on State terrorism and State violence which is the cause of all oppressive violence and hence promoting non-state violent resistance. That would have exposed the professor to his naked comment that violence is the only thing common to LTTE and the Naxalites. Though it was unfortunate that the LTTE did not reciprocate the hand of friendship extended by the Naxalites, the Naxalites who are for Social Liberation that included National Liberation. Hence LTTE and Naxalites had National Liberation IN COMMON and probably time would have ensured more common values. That is why India was against LTTE and in 2005 took a strategic decision to get rid of LTTE to NIP LIBERATION IN THE BUD. The Professor would have been part of that decion but now pretends violence as the only common factor to justify India's destroying LTTE and the present plan to destroy Naxalites. The present plan will find all internal and external forces against the Indian Empire uniting resulting in Liberation of the subcontinent including the Liberation of the Nations in the Sub continent (no doubt including Eelam and also Sinhalam).
India being the single largest country in the region, must take care not to bully its neighbours and be arrogant. That exactly is the sense of that this interview displays. To us, India is another country in the world that we would like to get on with, not on her terms, but on values that are rational and acceptable for dealings with any other country. War is the final stage of a conflict, and to say that SL exceeded her right to eliminate terrorism on her soil is utterly unacceptable. And our right to be friends with any country, is our privilege.
So My Dear Professor, You are also a supporter of Nambiar's toilet Diplomacy. Would you also support the idea if Bin Laden says he would come out of Tora Bora or wherever he is hiding waving a white flag to offer him amnesty. Pls understand our white masters are embarrassed that the minnows Sri Lanka were able to defeat the most ruthless terrorists in the world. Would they do the same if Bin Laden comes out as I stated about? They all are worried about their Tamil votes.- CW
@ Channa
If Sinhalese out number Tamils 9 to 1 in Lanka, how is the defeat of the Tamil Tigers a great accomplishment? This rather speaks to incompetence on the part of the Sinhalese politicians & military over the last 25 years. The victory would never have occurred without Shanghai Cooperation Organization states support & the U.S. war on terror. That said ... even had they not provided support the demographics of Sri Lanka indicated that the Tigers would not win unless they came to peace table which old school 1970's terrorist Vellupilai Prabhakaran was unwilling to do.
The mission statement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization led by China and Russia, which has admitted Sri Lanka as a "dialogue partner" mentions not only "independence and sovereignty" but also "the rights of minorities."
These countries are not well known for respecting minority rights...
Thanks for sharing this! All the best!
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